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Hey, this is a bit of a non-sequiter but I just remembered one of the best things about Berlin. Next to the 'Story of Berlin' Museum (itself well worth seeing) there's a cold war era nuclear bomb shelter that you can get a tour of. It's really freaky, especially when you consider that it would only shelter a tiny fraction of Berlin's population. Any fans of Fallout will be especially impressed.
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Jul 28, 2011 22:30
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Pantaloon posted:2) Should I buy or rent a real twentysomething travel backpack for a 12-day trip, or will a small carry on suitcase or rolling duffel work? I've no idea what the hostel locker dimensions are, but I assume they trend towards the small. Like said, anything fitting an overhead compartment will work, but not that many hostels require you to use lockers. I mean, obviously keep your valuables somewhere but it's not like anyone's interested in stealing your (dirty) clothes. The only trouble I've heard anyone have is stolen hiking boots, and even that was probably an honest mistake.
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Jul 28, 2011 23:47
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For 15? a lady in some odd phone store in Barcelona got me set up with a sim card with 100mb data a day, which is hilarious considering I get 200mb a month in the US. My phone says Happy instead of AT&T, if that means anything to anyone. She said it won't work in France, but who knows. Barcelona is fantastic, btw, I wish the weather in Newark hasn't hosed us out of an extra day here.
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Jul 29, 2011 02:04
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Associate Christ
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Kaluza-Klein posted:For 15? a lady in some odd phone store in Barcelona got me set up with a sim card with 100mb data a day, which is hilarious considering I get 200mb a month in the US. Yeah, that's Happy Móvil, one of the many virtual operators which usually have ridiculous names and good rates.
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Jul 29, 2011 07:32
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Greetings from Mostar, Bosnia and Hercegovina guys. Two things. 1) I did not receive a stamp on my passport when I entered BiH from Croatia, though I did receive an outgoing Croatian stamp. Will this be a problem when I try to leave the country? The Korean girl I was traveling with did not receive a stamp either. I guess that is a common thing, after looking into on the internet, but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with that. 2) Someone tell me where to go next? I have not done Sarajevo, but was thinking of heading south to Podgorica and seeing what Montenegro has to offer. I have to fly to the UK on the 7th or 8th of August, so I need to figure out soon what I will be doing. Any suggestions from anyone? Thanks for all the help, I am having a wicked trip!
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Jul 29, 2011 09:12
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goldboilermark posted:1) I did not receive a stamp on my passport when I entered BiH from Croatia, though I did receive an outgoing Croatian stamp. Will this be a problem when I try to leave the country? The Korean girl I was traveling with did not receive a stamp either. I guess that is a common thing, after looking into on the internet, but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with that. They put stamps at random so no worries there.
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Jul 29, 2011 09:23
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The Viper posted:Any fans of Fallout will be especially impressed. Hey speaking of Fallout look what I found in Bulgaria   
duralict fucked around with this message at 17:20 on Jul 31, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 09:54
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duralict posted:Hey speaking of Fallout look what I found in Bulgaria What the hell is that (the inside dome from the first picture)? It looks like the crashed Alien ship from Independence Day. E: i see. didn't notice those were links to flickr.
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Jul 29, 2011 09:57
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goldboilermark posted:1) I did not receive a stamp on my passport when I entered BiH from Croatia, though I did receive an outgoing Croatian stamp. Will this be a problem when I try to leave the country? The Korean girl I was traveling with did not receive a stamp either. I guess that is a common thing, after looking into on the internet, but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with that. If you're nervous, just make a mental note of your port of entry so if your exit agent asks you about it he can just shake his head at the typical incompetence of the people from *that place*
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Jul 29, 2011 12:04
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duralict posted:Hey speaking of Fallout look what I found in Bulgaria I never went there but I've seen pictures of rallies in front of this thing. It's in the middle of nowhere near Kazanluk, right? Of course there's Ataka (neo-fascist) graffiti everywhere. The panorama commemorating the siege of Pleven is really loving bizarre like that too. You walk up stairs, through an archway that's the arms of Mother Bulgaria, and into a park with a ton of dilapidated monuments to Russian soldiers. Then up to the lovely panorama building/museum, which looks like a spaceship too. goldboilermark posted:1) I did not receive a stamp on my passport when I entered BiH from Croatia, though I did receive an outgoing Croatian stamp. Will this be a problem when I try to leave the country? The Korean girl I was traveling with did not receive a stamp either. I guess that is a common thing, after looking into on the internet, but I was wondering if anyone had any experience with that. They never stamp your passport at the border crossing near Neum for whatever reason (there's probably a border agreement between Bosnia and Croatia a la US-Canada). You're fine. Go to Sarajevo. HeroOfTheRevolution fucked around with this message at 15:56 on Jul 29, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 15:53
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HeroOfTheRevolution posted:I never went there but I've seen pictures of rallies in front of this thing. It's in the middle of nowhere near Kazanluk, right? Of course there's Ataka (neo-fascist) graffiti everywhere. It's somewhere called Potok near Gabrovo, according to the GPS location. Definitely in the middle of nowhere though, I only got there by getting dragooned into a day trip by people in the hostel at Veliko Turnovo (p.s. good suggestion thanks!) Where's the Pleven monument? I'm hella into crumbling soviet monuments apparently
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Jul 29, 2011 16:36
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duralict posted:Where's the Pleven monument? I'm hella into crumbling soviet monuments apparently In Pleven, which is about two and a half hours northeast of Sofia. The panorama was built by the Soviet Union in 1977 as a gift to the Bulgarian people, but the building itself if not the park you walk through to get there is actually well-maintained and the panorama part is pretty cool. It's a giant 360 watercolor of what it would have looked like if you were standing in that spot on the day of the Battle of Pleven in 1877. Pleven's an interesting city because it has a ton of monuments to the siege and stuff, but there's not a whole lot else to see there. Lovech is less than an hour away, but has a really cool covered bridge, castle, and old town. HeroOfTheRevolution fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Jul 29, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 18:04
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So, I'm an idiot who thought it would be a great idea to go on a big euro-trip with a guy I recently started dating. Big surprise, we're no longer involved, and we're going to Barcelona next weekend! Hooray (awkward)! I've been to several places in Europe including London study abroad, but this is the first time where I kind of feel like I may be doing things on my own. Not to sound like a huge baby, but this is out of my comfort zone considering I've never been to Barcelona. If it were London, I could do it. Some things about me - - I'm 28 - trip dates Aug. 7th-14th - Not to pigeon hole myself, but I'm an ex sorority girl. I love to get dressed up and hit some clubs - Alternatively, I studied history in college and public administration in grad school, so I want to absorb as much history as possible and see the sights - I love live music (I lived in Austin, so I love local music scenes) as well as photography - I'm a wino and foodie - I'm a researcher by nature and pretty good with directions. I easily figured out Paris's metro, and I can't imagine Barcelona being difficult to figure out. I've done so much google maping and transport research out of being so excited about the trip, I have a good basis of understanding at least It's not so much doing things alone during the day that concerns me, it's trying to live it up at night but still return to my hotel room safely and in one piece. I know it's easy to meet people in hostels, but I'm staying in a hotel (by the Catedral) which is more to my liking. So, what other ways are there for a single girl to meet people as safely as possible? I'm not looking for tips on where to go per say, more so on how to have a good time if I end up solo a lot. I know, boot straps and all. I'm a social girl and very outgoing, but I also don't want to be too naive/trusting/stupid, so that may force me to put my guard up and less likely to be my normal social self.
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Jul 29, 2011 19:19
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I need some help deciding my last big trip while here in Europe. I am approaching 4 weeks stayed mostly in the UK. I have another 5 weeks left. So far I've been to Paris (absolutely beautiful city, shithead people) and am in Glasgow now going on a 3 day Highland tour tomorrow. I have Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Amsterdam, Bruges, and Stonehenge & (maybe) Isle of Wight planned during my 5 weeks here, but I feel like I can squeeze one more big trip while I'm here, but I can't decide. Here are the ones I'm thinking: Brussels, Belgium Munich, Germany Amsterdam, Netherlands (I am only staying one full day in my currently planned trip and depending if I like it enough I might want to go back) I only really have about 2 days worth of time in any place since I am studying abroad and need to be back during the week for classes. What do you guys think? Any suggestions to other places that you think are absolutely fantastic would be awesome. Ideally I wish I could visit Greece, Russia, or Croatia but I don't have the time. guppiehaus fucked around with this message at 23:13 on Jul 29, 2011 |
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Jul 29, 2011 22:58
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guppiehaus posted:I need some help deciding my last big trip while here in Europe. I am approaching 4 weeks stayed mostly in the UK. I have another 5 weeks left. So far I've been to Paris (absolutely beautiful city, shithead people) and am in Glasgow now going on a 3 day Highland tour tomorrow. I have Barcelona, Rome, Venice, Amsterdam, Bruges, and Stonehenge & (maybe) Isle of Wight planned during my 5 weeks here, but I feel like I can squeeze one more big trip while I'm here, but I can't decide. Here are the ones I'm thinking: No love for Berlin? It's a great city, and for my money, better than Munich. Also, Croatia rocks.
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Jul 29, 2011 23:45
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tzz posted:Yeah, that's Happy Móvil, one of the many virtual operators which usually have ridiculous names and good rates. I've been trying to decipher their site with my ultra basic spanish and can't work it out. Do you know how I can get that 100mb/day plan with Happy or another provider? I'm travelling around Europe for 9 weeks (UK, France, Netherlands, Germany, Czech, Hungary, Italy, Spain) and it would be awesome to have some data on my phone for maps when wifi might not be possible. 100 or even 50mb a day would be awesome.
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Jul 30, 2011 00:20
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The Viper posted:No love for Berlin? It's a great city, and for my money, better than Munich. Also, Croatia rocks. I was going to say exactly the same thing. Munich is nice, but it doesn't really hold a candle to Berlin.
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Jul 30, 2011 09:27
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NoArmedMan posted:I've been trying to decipher their site with my ultra basic spanish and can't work it out. Do you know how I can get that 100mb/day plan with Happy or another provider? I'm travelling around Europe for 9 weeks (UK, France, Netherlands, Germany, Czech, Hungary, Italy, Spain) and it would be awesome to have some data on my phone for maps when wifi might not be possible. 100 or even 50mb a day would be awesome. Data plans will usually be valid only in the country you purchased them. The ones you can use outside will be slapped with heavy roaming charges.
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Jul 30, 2011 11:20
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NoArmedMan posted:I've been trying to decipher their site with my ultra basic spanish and can't work it out. Do you know how I can get that 100mb/day plan with Happy or another provider? I'm travelling around Europe for 9 weeks (UK, France, Netherlands, Germany, Czech, Hungary, Italy, Spain) and it would be awesome to have some data on my phone for maps when wifi might not be possible. 100 or even 50mb a day would be awesome. I walked into a store called "Phone House" or something like that on Catalunya Street and in broken spanish asked for a SIM card with data. The nice lady sorted me right out. From what I could gather, it won't work in other countries, just Spain. mzandrea posted:So, I'm an idiot who thought it would be a great idea to go on a big euro-trip with a guy I recently started dating. Big surprise, we're no longer involved, and we're going to Barcelona next weekend! Hooray (awkward)! I've been to several places in Europe including London study abroad, but this is the first time where I kind of feel like I may be doing things on my own. Not to sound like a huge baby, but this is out of my comfort zone considering I've never been to Barcelona. If it were London, I could do it. Some things about me - I am on the 3:16 to Cerbere out of Barcelona as I type this. It is hailing on our train right now, which is a very strange experience! My wife and I decided to make a honeymoon of Barcelona/Paris. Because of a delayed flight, we only had two full days in Barcelona. Also, because we didn't set an alarm, we awoke at 4pm local time the first day. That left us with one evening and a full day. Doh. We were looking to do touristy things, not meet people, so I have no idea what the nightlife is like, beyond eating out late at night, which is what everyone seems to do, regardless of the day of the week. Also, as all the guidebooks and wikitravel point out, being a solo female almost anywhere is apparently risky. I am just going to recount what we did. I don't think I met a single person who didn't speak english, or at least knew as much english as I know spanish. Very easy to get around because of this. Everyone was very nice, and no one stole our stuff  . I wore super-tight jeans (trying to fit in! ((get it?))) and kept my wallet in front. Even I could hardly get it out.Barcelona metro is the best I have been on. Very frequent (and very nice!) trains, easy as pie to navigate, and cheap as dirt. The only bother I had was remembering that the metro map is depicted with North to your right. Our first evening we did the Sagrada Familia cathedral. It is stunning, and very unusual. Not as huge as the duomo in Florence, but much more interesting. We took the elevator up the towers. Nice views. They light the whole thing up at night, too. The next day we were able to wander around the Ramblas, go to the Bocaria? market, visit the Picasso museum, and visit Montjuic castle (with funicular/cable car ride that I almost wet myself on). All a grand time. Montjuic castle is very pretty, free, and you can just lounge around with a beer and take in the views. They were setting up some sort of free concert when we were there, but we didn't stick around to hear it. We missed the Gaudi park, the only big thing I wish we had been able to do. You can buy tickets to a lot of things online, beating the lines. Sagrada family I bought with my phone moments before we arrived, but Picasso will not sell tickets online for the same day, so plan ahead. We did not research food in advance, so we just ate where ever we were. The food is nice, but we didn't stumble across anything stunning. Wife is a vegi btw, and she had no trouble. We stayed in an apartment on Catalunya, with kitchen and all. It was very convenient to everything. I am rambling now and I am going to try to sleep until this train stops moving. Good luck!
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Jul 30, 2011 15:12
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I've got a 19 day trip to Eastern Europe coming up next month. I fly into Budapest, spend 4 or 5 days there before taking a train to Bucharest, spend 24 hours in Romania, then catch an overnight train to Istanbul for the remaining time. Any recommendations as to what to do/see?
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Jul 31, 2011 16:37
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International customs question, not really about Europe, but figured I would ask here. Doing eastern Europe, I have found a number of war-related things that are moving, interesting and I want to bring home to my sister, who I have a close relationship with and is really into world history and anthropology. I have a bullet shell from a sniper tower in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Will I have any troubles with this, does anyone know? Should I declare it? Do I soak it for 48 hours and throw it in a cardboard box in a checked bag and hope for the best? It was shot at some point, so there might be residue on it, but it was shot in 1991, or around then, so I do not know about gun residue over that time frame. Anyone have ANY thoughts on this? I am close to just bringing it in my pocket to the check in place, showing the person each time, and asking "Is this ok?"
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Jul 31, 2011 17:15
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IANAL, but it's not of cultural significance or value so its not antique smuggling or anything like that. You can buy spent shell and bullet casings and other stuff on the streets in Sarajevo that people have made into pens and vases. It's a big souvenir industry. There were supposedly enough spent casings in Bosnia after the war that if you stacked them, they would have reached to the moon. A friend of mine purchased an old JNA bayonet at a flea market in the city I worked in and had no problems with that (just had to check it because it was a weapon).
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Jul 31, 2011 17:27
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I'll look into Berlin, thanks guys Also, no one told me the Scottish Highlands were so god drat amazing. I am in love with everything about them and my only regret is not booking a more intense tour with actual trekking. If I can't decide on a place to do my last big trip I might just end up returning to the Highlands to do a day hike or something. They're so awesome to me I'd give up seeing another country to get the full experience.
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Jul 31, 2011 20:24
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The Amputee House posted:I've got a 19 day trip to Eastern Europe coming up next month. I fly into Budapest, spend 4 or 5 days there before taking a train to Bucharest, spend 24 hours in Romania, then catch an overnight train to Istanbul for the remaining time. Any recommendations as to what to do/see? In Budapest, go to one of the baths, it was a highlight of my trip. They are a bit expensive but you can stay all day if you want. Take the free walking tour too, it's really good. If you only have 24 hours to spend in Romania, don't spend it in Bucharest. I hated Bucharest. Instead, spend the time in Brasov, it is a great city and most likely your train to Bucharest is going through there anyway. I don't have any super secret cool things to do in Istanbul, but I will say that I liked the Basilica Cistern, it's right across the street from the Hagia Sophia and the lines are short. I commend you for focusing your trip on only two cities. In 19 days most people would try to see all of western Europe plus Italy. Budapest and Istanbul are cities that reward deeper exploration, too. Sounds like a great trip.
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Jul 31, 2011 22:17
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Any suggestions for flea/morning markets in Paris? We are here until Friday. Rick Steves and wikitravel are failing me.
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Aug 1, 2011 15:03
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Kaluza-Klein posted:Any suggestions for flea/morning markets in Paris? We are here until Friday. Rick Steves and wikitravel are failing me. I would have said the marche aux puces de St Ouen, at Clignancourt, but I'm pretty sure it's only from saturday to monday. I lived a couple years near the marche d'Aligre, that's almost strictly food though. Here's a list of all Paris markets, but I can't really suggest any.
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Aug 1, 2011 15:31
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pylb posted:I would have said the marche aux puces de St Ouen, at Clignancourt, but I'm pretty sure it's only from saturday to monday. Thank you! That list is fantastic. Any tips on getting cell phone service with data on a prepaid sim card? I have tried Phone House, which was so helpful in Spain, but they can only do voice. I got the same response from SFR. Very disappointing. It would be a major help to use google maps on my phone, as this place certainly isn't laid out on a grid!
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Aug 1, 2011 21:08
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Kaluza-Klein posted:Thank you! That list is fantastic. someone itt was talking about lonely planet apps which have city maps saved to your phone for web-free browsing.
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Aug 1, 2011 22:21
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greazeball posted:someone itt was talking about lonely planet apps which have city maps saved to your phone for web-free browsing. Not that it helps last minute travellers, but the Lonely Planet apps always go on sale for free every month or two, usually region by region. Over the last year I've downloaded about 30 of them that I'm going to install on my iPhone before my trip and it didn't cost me a cent 
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Aug 1, 2011 22:38
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Kaluza-Klein posted:Any tips on getting cell phone service with data on a prepaid sim card? I have tried Phone House, which was so helpful in Spain, but they can only do voice. I got the same response from SFR. Very disappointing. It would be a major help to use google maps on my phone, as this place certainly isn't laid out on a grid! At least in my Android phone I can enable "Precache map areas" in Labs for Maps, and then pre-cache the cities I want when on wifi. Works great. I mean, obviously it's nicer if you can use data, but that was a reasonably good substitute for me.
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Aug 1, 2011 22:39
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Jack Flint posted:At least in my Android phone I can enable "Precache map areas" in Labs for Maps, and then pre-cache the cities I want when on wifi. Works great. I mean, obviously it's nicer if you can use data, but that was a reasonably good substitute for me. I have been trying to do that, but it seems spotty. Sometimes an entire chunk will be stuck at low resolution. But you are right, much better than nothing! I will see if android has lonely planet.
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Aug 2, 2011 10:04
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Chiming in to say that I once brought a sword back from Croatia without too many problems, you just have to check it specially. However, dont get a bullet keychain, you will end up forgetting that you have it and trying to get through security. They dont like that.
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Aug 2, 2011 15:10
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If I checked a fired bulletshell, though, do you think that would be a problem?
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Aug 2, 2011 19:10
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goldboilermark posted:If I checked a fired bulletshell, though, do you think that would be a problem? Absolutely no problem. It is however, best not to put in your hand luggage in case they are weiners. (There is no reason they should be, but I'm guessing you'd rather not have it taken off you). FWIW I have a relative that accidentally took a (deactivated) handgrenade with them in their hand luggage post 9/11 and nobody noticed.
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Aug 3, 2011 14:40
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Myself and a friend are planning a trip at the end of the month. We haven't picked a destination yet, but weighing up things like cost of living, where we've been to before, etc. we're looking into Budapest. Would those who have been there say that Budapest has a good mix of sights, things to do and nightlife? I don't want to make the same mistake as we did with Krakow, which was lovely, but deserted. Would a week be too long, even considering we'll probably take a trip out to the caves, take a few long walks, etc. It's either that or Barcelona...
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Aug 3, 2011 14:54
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BogginHarry posted:Myself and a friend are planning a trip at the end of the month. We haven't picked a destination yet, but weighing up things like cost of living, where we've been to before, etc. we're looking into Budapest. Budapest is cool, but given a week and the choice of that or Barcalona? Barcalona, no contest. I can't tell if you've been to Barca before or not though.
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Aug 3, 2011 15:16
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No, haven't been to Barcelona, but we've been to Spain quite often and fancied a change. It also eats into our budget a bit more. We haven't decided yet, so I just wanted to get an idea of what Budapest was like. I know the nightlife in Barcelona would be better, but I wasn't sure if there were enough places to see besides the usual Sagrada Familia, Gaudi Park, Nou Camp, etc. We could easily occupy ourselves for a week in Barcelona, then?
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Aug 3, 2011 16:03
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greazeball posted:Budapest is cool, but given a week and the choice of that or Barcalona? Barcalona, no contest. I can't tell if you've been to Barca before or not though. Whyyy? Why does everyone think Barcelona is the greatest place on earth? I'm probably just a crazy person who doesn't like beaches, but I think Budapest is the greatest place on earth. And yes, there is enough to occupy you for a week. I ended up spending ten days total in Budapest on my recent trip to Europe. Granted, I went a little heavy on the nightlife and spent several of those days laying around.
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Aug 3, 2011 18:17
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Veetard posted:Whyyy? Why does everyone think Barcelona is the greatest place on earth? I'm probably just a crazy person who doesn't like beaches, but I think Budapest is the greatest place on earth. And yes, there is enough to occupy you for a week. I ended up spending ten days total in Budapest on my recent trip to Europe. Granted, I went a little heavy on the nightlife and spent several of those days laying around. I really enjoyed Budapest, and I agree there is plenty to do there but it's just so easy to find things to do in Barcelona. The language is easier to understand (and more people spoke English, in my experience) and like I said, there is poo poo just begging to be seen and experienced on every corner. Budapest just required a little more planning and maybe a bigger sense of adventure, imho.
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Aug 4, 2011 16:26
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We're probably going with Budapest. It seems we can get a nice apartment for a very good price, instead of paying ridiculous money for a pokey hostel room in Barcelona. Alos, we've been to Spain twice in the past 6 months, so Barcelona can wait for a while. Outside of the usual sight-seeing, baths, drinking, etc. we'll cycle along the Danube to Szentendre, go look at some of the cave systems, get a boat down the Danube, see if we can wander around the forests outside Buda, and just walk about the city and take in the atmosphere.
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Aug 4, 2011 17:56
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